The Yayu Coffee Forest Biosphere in Ethiopia is one of the last remaining mountain forest fragments of Arabica Coffee in the world. To preserve and maintain its primary and secondary wild forest, and prevent further damage to the forest or loss of coffee species, it is vital that local communities have other livelihood options as well as seeing a viable future for themselves in producing specialty coffee.

Produced in collaboration with Union Coffee, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and The Darwin Trust

The Rift Valley in Ethiopia

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Union Coffee's Yayu Wild Forest Coffee.

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A coffee worker at a coffee bean drying station.

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A coffee cooperative member in Yayu

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Yayu's wildforest coffee

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A coffee worker lies on a bed of coffee cherries in Yayu.

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Coffee workers are responsible for removing the coffee cherry pulp (pictured right) and cleaning the coffee beans (left) so that they can be moved onto drying beds.

A moment of calm after a traditional coffee ceremony at a farm in Yayu forest, Ethiopia. We drank their hand roasted coffee with the option of adding either sugar or salt (to soften the bitterness and acidity of the coffee) and burned frankincense powder that filled the air with plumes of fragrant smoke.

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Members of a coffee farm in Yayu review the quality of their coffee harvest.

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Members of a coffee cooperative in Yayu talking business with Graciano Cruz, an industry expert and coffee farmer himself, who along with Union is helping development in the region.

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A coffee farm owner sits outside her home in Yayu, Ethiopia.

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Local plantlife in Yayu, Ethiopia.

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A schoolboy in Yayu, Ethiopia. Part of the development program is teaching the coffee growing process to children at school. Many of these children will grow up to work with coffee, so having an understanding from a young age is a big advantage for them

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Members of a coffee cooperative in Yayu talking business with Graciano Cruz, an industry expert and coffee farmer himself, who along with Union is helping development in the region

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Coffee pickers remove unripe green coffee cherries.

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A young coffee picker in Yayu, Ethiopia.

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A coffee worker and her child at a coffee farm in Yayu, Ethiopia.

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Local coffee in Yayu.

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A schoolboy in Yayu. Part of the development program is teaching the coffee growing process to children at school. Many of these children will grow up to work with coffee, so having an understanding from a young age is a big advantage for them

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Coffee workers stand by a coffee drying bed in Yayu, Ethiopia.

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A cooperative meeting with Union coffee in Yayu, Ethiopia.

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Part of the development program is teaching the coffee growing process to children at school. Many of these children will grow up to work with coffee, so having an understanding from a young age is a big advantage for them